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Translation of

JAPANESE ORDNANCE

MARKINGS

AUGUST,1945

A. S. F.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ORDNANCE

WASHINGTON, D. C.

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Table of Contents

PAGE

SECTION ONE—Introduction

General Discussion of Japanese Characters 1

Unusual Methods of Japanese Markings 5

SECTION TWO—Instructions for Translating Japanese Markings

Different Japanese Calendar Systems 8

Japanese Characters for Type and Modification 9

Explanation of the Key Characters and Their Use 10

Key Characters for Essential Japanese Ordnance Materiel 11

Method of Using the Key Character Tables in Translation 12

Tables of Basic Key Characters for Japanese Ordnance 17

SECTION THREE—Practical Reading and Translation of Japanese Characters

Japanese Markings Copied from a Tag Within an Ammunition Box 72

Japanese Markings on an Airplane Bomb 73

Japanese Markings on a Heavy Gun 74

Japanese Markings Used to Indicate Arsenals 75

Japanese Ballistic Terms 76

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Complete identification of Japanese materiel often necessi-tates translation into English of the ideographs and phoneticalphabet characters stamped on equipment or printed onaccompanying tags, boxes or pamphlets. Because of their in-ability to read Japanese, many persons responsible for inspec-tion of captured ordnance items are unable quickly andaccurately to identify unfamiliar materiel.

This book has been prepared as a practical guide to thetranslation of Japanese ordnance nomenclature. Its successfuluse does not require a prior knowledge of Japanese but de-pends only upon the application of simple principles that canbe learned within a few hours. It explains how the recognitionof twenty key ideographs, in conjunction with tables in thetext, will enable the reader to translate markings that describeJapanese ordnance.

SECTION ONE

INTRODUCTION

General Discussion of Japanese Characters

KANJI

Until a phonetic alphabet was invented between 774 and 835 A.D. the Japanese dependedentirely upon ideographs or picture-characters for written expression of their thoughts. Eventoday ideographs remain the principal medium for written Japanese, although the phoneticcharacters have considerable subsidiary use. Since most of the words in the language are rep-resented by an individual character, several thousand ideographs have to be memorized forfacility in reading or writing. Most of these characters were adopted from the Chinese in thethird century A.D., this Chinese origin being indicated by their name, "Kanji," which means-Chinese characters.- During the long period that has elapsed since their adoption, theChinese sounds for the ideographs have been modified until the present Japanese equivalentsare quite different from the original Chinese.

Japanese sentences do not follow normal English structure. While each noun and itsdescriptive adjectives are represented by a separate ideograph, the position of the noun doesnot correspond to that in English. Japanese ordnance inscriptions usually have an easily recog-nized noun character at or near the first part of the sentence. In translating, this permits iden-tification of the noun ideograph to serve as a key to the meaning of the combined characters,as is shown in the section of this book entitled "Explanation of the Key Characters and TheirUse.- The way in which ideographs are combined to designate a term or item is apparentfrom the combination of the three characters for picric acid in which the ideographs foryellow, color, and powder are employed.

Hlika' if Yellow

Sboku Color PICRIC ACID

te,Yaku Powder

Because the number of word sounds in Japanese are limited, a single sound may havevarious meanings according to the context of the sentence in which it is used. In writtenJapanese each of these meanings is clearly denoted by a distinctive ideograph. For instance,there are numerous meanings of the word "Sha," each represented by a different ideograph,some of which are illustrated below.

44-Sha Sha Sha Sba Sha Sba

In Japanese ordnance terms, only the "Sha" character on the extreme left of this groupof six selected pictures of the sound "Sha" is of value. This particular representation of "Sha"indicates a vehicle and, when so used, is always at the end of the group of characters; forexample, "jinrikisha" (a two-wheeled cart), and "sensha" (a battle tank).

CART

A. lin (Man)

Riki (Moves)

Sba (Wagon)

TANK

CIO

t Sen (Battle)

Sha (Wagon)

This form of "Sha" appears in the nomenclature of all Japanese vehicular ordnanceitems, where it is the terminal sound or ideograph. This "Sha" is the root word for all Japanesevehicles, and is one of 20 key characters in the table of key ordnance characters which will beexplained in detail later in this outline.

KANA

The Japanese realized the disadvantages and limitations of their ideograph system in itsinability to represent the constantly increasing number of foreign words being absorbed intothe language. This problem was solved by use of the phonetic alphabet called "Kana."Unlike Kanji, which cannot express the correct sound or proper construction of words, the

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JAPANESE KANA ALPHABET

ing of the more intricate Kanji characters for marking purposes. These are to prevent mistakeswhen several types of shells resemble each other, although intended for different weapons.The markings here generally indicate the type of gun that is to fire this ammunition. Thefollowing illustration is arranged, not for the purpose of translation of the markings, but toshow their position.

Kana characters are simple in design and make good dies for stampingJapanese metal parts, or for quickly painting an abbreviated arsenal mark. Theflexibility of Kana characters in describing various ordnance items is evidentin the use of one of the plainest and most widely employed Kana characters,

When ''To" is painted on thebody of an artillery shell, justabove the rotating band, it indi-cates that the shell was manu-factured at the "Tokyo ArmyBranch Ordnance Depot." Thisis illustrated by the view of aJapanese 150 mm howitzershell.

However, when the Japanese mark their machine gun ammunition for airplanes, althoughthey use the same character, "To," to mark the bottom of the cartridge case, it indicates anentirely different place of manufacture. In this case "To" refers to the Toyokawa Navy Yard.As an interesting sidelight on this abbreviated system of marking, the sound of the character"To" is the sound of the first part of the word Toyokawa. Likewise the "A" of the Kanaalphabet is used to indicate the Asahi Plant, while "Yo" is used to mark the products of theYokosuka Navy Yard in airplane machine gun ammunition.

(3) When the Japanese place characters on pasteboard tags or on paper labels attachedto ordnance items, they use Kanji.

Ta

A sample of such a marking copied from a label glued to the cardboard shipping con-tainer for a shell is shown in Section Three of this text. This inscription demonstrates thatwhen the Japanese print ordnance terms on paper they arrange the characters in a long, verti-cal line reading from top to bottom. The reproduction of characters on this label is accom-panied by their actual translation, using the system of selecting the key characters and subse-quently referring to the tables in which they are located, as explained in Section Two.

(4) After study of this booklet it will be possible totranslate the general descriptive matter in pamphletsaccompanying Japanese ordnance items. It is cautionedhere that the Japanese put such general descriptions onwhat we would call the back page of our books. Hold-ing the Japanese book in a normal position it is neces-sary to turn to the final page- and look for key char-acters.

For example, illustrated here are two sections fromthe descriptive page of a captured Japanese booklet onJapanese artillery shells. These are shown not for thepurpose of translation, but merely to illustrate where tolook for them in the book, and to repeat the caution thatthe characters are to be read along a vertical line fromtop to bottom.

The heavy-type column to the left is the name: "Ar-tillery Ammunition," while that to the right is the date,"May 1938."

Sho Wa

Bright Era

SECTION TWO

INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRANSLATING JAPANESE MARKINGS

Different Japanese Calendar Systems

The Japanese designate types of ordnance materiel, such as mortars, howitzers, rifles,guns, etc., with a descriptive term indicating the year the item was officially adopted. Formarking high explosives, a date on the label of the package or outside of the shipping boxindicates the date of manufacture. It is common for the Japanese to make liberal use of calen-dar dates, but it must be remembered that four different systems are employed.

BASIC JAPANESE CALENDAR

One system employs the basic Japanese calendaryears, represented either by four digits, as in the year2598, or by its reduced form 98 derived by dropping thefirst two digits as is done when our year 1945 is abbre-viated to '45. The Japanese Kanji ideograph "Shiki,"always employed with the abbreviated date numerals, isshown with the numeral characters for nine and eight.

A. 4Ku Harhi Sbiki

9 8 Type

As an example of a date in a decade preceding that shown, the year 1921 is the equiva-lent of the Japanese calendar year 2581, and any Japanese models produced in that year wouldbe called their "Type 81."

REIGN OF EMPEROR OR ERA

The Japanese also indicate the date in terms of the year ofthe reign of a Japanese emperor, each reign being known as an era.Any ordnance materiel produced within one of these periods mightbe marked as "Showa Era, 18 Year- (our year 1943), as explainedlater.

There have been three different eras representing the reignsof individual Japanese emperors within the past seventy-sevenyears. The reign of the present emperor, begun in 1926, is referredto as the "Showa Era," meaning the bright period, or the goldenera. It is designated by the characters shown at right.

Development of modern Japanese ordnance has occurred only in the three most recenteras.

Era 2 covers the Meiji Era from 1868 to 1912.Era 3 covers the Taisho Era from 1912 to 1926.Era 4 covers the Showa Era from 1926 to the present time.Although Eras 2, 3 and 4 are designated by different ideographs, they employ the same

general principle in relation to indicating a date marking. The basis for each is to (a) namethe era during which the item was designed or manufactured, and (b) give the particularyear of this era to which the date applies.

Conversion of a date within any Japanese era to one in our calendar can be accomplishedby adding the given Japanese year to the English date for the year preceding the beginning ofthe ,era. For example, the English equivalent of the 20th year of the Showa Era can be foundby adding 20 to 1925, which gives our year 1945.

Table No. 6 describes the Kanji characters used by the Japanese to indicate the MeijiTaisho, and Showa Eras.

Japanese Characters for Type and Modification

TYPE

The Japanese always use dates or numerals with a character which refers to dates in classi-fying their ordnance items. Only one character is used to indicate the type classification. Thischaracter is "Shiki." It appears on artillery shells, bombs, small arms, guns, howitzers, fuzes,etc., but always in association with numerals of one or two digits. These numerals are abbre-viations for dates in the Japanese calendar.

The following are some common markings used by the Japanese on their ordnance itemsto express Type and Type Numbers:

.........0

____- 4Shiki

tiP Saku

A

*Yaku

-.. .:4•MCba Kith.Ni

2 Type Brown Bursting Powder

(Year) 1942 TNT Bursting Charge

4 .:;, h...,-Li Q1-49 a.m....Mb

lu !chi

ilifib

Nat Shiki Kai Gau MT

11th Year Type See Coast Gun

Sbiki

Type1

1941

Modification 2

Baka Dan

Modification 1 Airplane Bomb

MODIFICATIONS

The Japanese describe modifications of ordnance items in the following manner:

In marking bombs, the Japanese use, in addition to these characters, three extra charac-ters to indicate "mark," "weight," and "design number." These are discussed in Table No. 13.

Note: It is common to find the ideograph for modification with a numeral placed togethernear the base of the shell. The meaning is "The new improved type No. 2."

Explanation of the Key Characters and Their Use

On page 11 and on the inside of the cover appears a table of key ordnance charac-ters. Each key character is a base or root word which the Japanese use in designating ordnancemateriel. Next to each key character, the Japanese write additional characters which modifythe root word to indicate the full description of the particular item, as "Sen Sha" (tank) or"Chu Sen Sha" (medium tank). Also in this section are tables of key characters that list thosecharacters which normally accompany the key ideograph, modify it, and in combination withit give the name of a specific Japanese ordnance item. Except in rare instances, the key char-acter is always the last character in a related group of sounds or written characters, but notethat in following this rule the direction of writing must first be ascertained.

One key character, such as "Sha" (a vehicle) is the terminal root word for four classesof ordnance items in the vehicular family, namely: Tanks, Trucks, Cars and Tractors.

The particular type of vehicle referred to by "Sha" can be ascertained by using the tableto identify the characters that precede the key ideograph.

Table No. 2 has a key character of "Dan," and includes such items as Bullets and Gren-ades. Note that this key character, "Dan," is added to another key character, "Ryu," to forma double key character group. From this combination is derived a new table (Table No. 12)to indicate Artillery Shells and Rockets.

Likewise the key character "Dan" just described is joined with a second key character"Baku," to form another double-character group, giving us Table No. 18 on Airplane Bombs.

EY CHARACTERS

for Essential Japanese Ordnance Materiel

TABLE CHARACTER ORDNANCE

1TanksTruck,CarsVehicles

• n

Sba

2al

Dan

BulletGrenade Shell (w. #12)Bomb (w. #18)Rocket

3 iia

715

GunCannonHowitzerMortar

. 4 0

Yaku

ExplosivesAmmunition

5 Type

Shiki

6 ,

Nen

A

Gersu

Year YMonth

7 11 1I 1

Yu

GasolineFuel OilsLubricating Oils

Bin

77

PrimerShell CaseBangalore TorpedoGrenade LauncherComplete Round

9 4 (.)

Hei

W:

Gun

Unit. orOrganization

10

Rai

MinesTorpedo (Aerial)

TABLE CHARACTER ORDNANCE

11 At

fa

MGRiflePistolCarbine

12PI t

Ryi

Artillery Shell(W. #21

13lit

Go

Mark Number andData on Bombs

1 4/4.

Sancti

tt

Miri

Metric Terms Weight 81 Dimension)

15 glit

Ki

Aircraft

16i . •. i.1.

4

Tam

Metals

17

Kan

FuzeCapTrain

18 IV

Baku

Airplane Bomb(w- #2)

1 NSbo

Factory

2010r

Sbi7

Arsenal

IP

Cbu Sen Sba

Medium Battle Wagon

MEDIUM TANK

Sen Sba

Baffle Wagon

TANK

Sba

Vehicle

Wagon

Small Gun

These are the only tables which are made up from double key characters. The materiel towhich the other tables relate appears on top of each table.

Method of Using the Key Character Tables in Translation

1. Become thoroughly familiar with each key character, and with the characters fornumerals from 1 to 10.

2. Ascertain the direction in which the particular writing to be translated has beenwritten; i. e., from left to right, right to left, or top to bottom. of this outline explainsthe method.

3. Select all the key characters in the writing.

4. Mark off the characters accompanying each key character. This may be done by draw-ing rectangles around each related group of characters (key characters plus accompanyingmodifying characters).

Note: Where the writing to be translated involves a considerable number of characters(i. e., more than 50), it is recommended that the writing be treated piecemeal in groups ofthree or four characters, selecting a key character from a group and translating that groupbefore proceeding to the next group.

The three characters "Chu," "Seri," and "Sha" that compose the word for medium tank,are shown above as the Japanese would write them from left to right on a wooden crating forthe vehicle. The key character "Sha" is placed last, to the right of the modifying characters"Chu" and "Sen." When the Japanese mark ordnance items they do so without punctuation.That is one reason why it is necessary to memorize the twenty key characters used in ordnance.

The following example is employed to show the method used in building up "Ju" (mean-ing a small gun), into the compound group of characters, "Ken Ju" (meaning a pistol) andthen "Ji Do Ju" (meaning an automatic rifle).

,.....

.

Ku,

Ai12

Hand Operated Small Gun

PISTOL

Jiit

DJIR

Ji7

Self- Acting Small Gun

AUTOMATIC RIFLE

Up to now only one key character with its adjective ideographs has been described. Theillustration below shows the ideographs for "automatic rifle" by a new key character, "Shiki,"plus its descriptive adjective ideographs. Note that there are no periods, commas, or openspaces.

itKu

AIlacbi

4Shiki Ji

0Dii

n

I;9 8 Type Self- Acting Small Gun

TYPE 98 AUTOMATIC RIFLE

The direction in which the Japanese wrote these characters must be determined. Thefinding of "Shiki" (Type), the character third from the left, is the first step. It is always pre-ceded by numerals. Since the numerals for 9 and 8 are to the left of "Shiki" the writing planis from left to right.

Since it is a key character, the last character of the line (bearing in mind the direction ofthe writing of the group) is selected. It is "Ju," a key character for small arms, as is shown inTable No. 11.

Taking "Ju" and its two preceding characters (the Japanese usually write in groups oftwo, three, or four characters when describing ordnance), turn to Table No. 11. There themeanings of the three picture characters are found to be automatic rifle. Similarly, it is foundthat ''Ku Hachi Shiki" means Type 98.

Elsewhere in this publication are illustrated actual markings found on a captured Japa-nese ammunition box, an airplane bomb, and a heavy gun. The names of the Japanese char-acters are given in each case, the key characters being set off from the long string of modify-ing characters by placing a cross-line just below the key character. The partial translation andthe full translation are given with each example.

Note that if the Japanese write from left to right, the cross-line follows the key characterand is to the right of it. If the Japanese write from right to left, then the cross-line followsthe key character but is to the left of it.

When .the Japanese string of characters proceeds from top to bottom, as illustrated in Sec-tion Three (page 72), the cross-line is beneath the key character. In the case mentioned therewere 43 Japanese characters appearing in one consecutive vertical line which has been dividedinto four columns for convenience in printing.

The following illustration is employed to show how several vertical columns of Japanesecharacters may be broken down into the key characters for translation purposes. It has beentaken from a Japanese book on Japanese artillery shells. The only additions to it have beenthe placing of the letters A, B, C, D, and E for reference purposes and the drawing of a line

beneath each key character to illustrate the method followed in determining key characters andthe preceding characters which are used to describe them.

Roughly, the method is to go to the foot of each vertical line for the first key characterand strike a line under it.

The best plan, to avoid confusion in locating the next key character, is to work in groupsof but two or three characters at a time. When the Japanese write in vertical columns, thereading starts at the top right hand corner. Here the column marked A is the first to be read.Start at the foot of the column for the first key character. It is "Yaku," found in Table No. 4.

The next question is, how many characters relate to "Yaku"? Table No. 4 shows that inthis particular case only "Yaku" and its adjoining character "Dan" are in the table and meanAmmunition (General). The third character from the bottom is next found to be a keycharacter -Ho."

In questioning how many characters are to be included with "Ho," look through TableNo. 3. Here it is to be noted that "Ho" and "Po," denoted by the same ideograph, are inter-

changeable when referring to artillery pieces and mortars, depending upon the type of weapon.In this particular case the key character is "Po" and the two characters next to "Po" in theJapanese text are included with the key character in line 5 of the table to form the Japaneseword -Ryu Dam Po," meaning Howitzer.

The next key character "Sanchi," meaning centimeter, makes translation easy. With it isthe numeral -Ju" (ten) to complete the term 10 CM. It is quite evident that the next char-acter "Shiki" is a key character and it is preceded by the numeral characters "Ku- (nine) and-Ichi" (one), given in Table No. 5. The translation of this phrase is thus "Type 91."

By this same method the ideographs in Column B are identified and translated into "Model91 Streamlined Shell." Column C is translated as "Fuze." Column D'has two sections, anupper and a lower section, the first of which is translated as -Projectile," or "Shell Body,"while the lower section means "Explosive Charge, TNT."

SECTION THREE

PRACTICAL READING AND TRANSLATION OF

JAPANESE CHARACTERS

aK;

Ku

AIRCRAFT

Table 15

r

20 MM

t

It_ Metric Table 14

Ki

POM-POMGUN

Kan

frN Table 3

Bed.

Neu

Table 6

AMMUNITION

Table 4

Dag

II'si,•6 SHOWA

18th YEAR

1943

1.0i

Yi

NOVEMBER

Table 7

TYPE 2

Table 5

LIGHTTRACER

APSHELL

Table 2

LP1.4

COMPLETEROUNDTable 8

Pi;

4Sbike

AMMO.

Table 4

Ribv

zo

Hei

55;

ARSENAL

Table 20

TOKYO

ARMY

Table 10

FACTORY

Table 19

JAPANESE MARKINGS COPIED FROM A TAG WITHINAN AMMUNITION BOX

Start at left top corner and read down.

Note: The Japanese characters on this page were copied direct from tags within ammuni-tion boxes that had been captured in the Philippines.

TABLES OF BASIC KEY CHARACTERS

FOR JAPANESE ORDNANCE

chi;

Medium

Sen Sba

Wagon

Wagon

MOTOR TRUCKSba

Wagon

Sen Sho

Baffle Wagon

Light Battle Wagon

Sett She

LI V)Ji 135 K4

TANK

LIGHT TANK

MEDIUM TANK

Baffle Wagon

HEAVY TANK

n

BaffleHeavy

IIJi Do

Self Moving

Self Moving Freight

• n• •

ShaMOTOR CAR

Sen Sha

(Continued on next page)

//,

TANKSTRUCKS

VEHICLESSha

/ Vehicle

CATERPILLARTRUCK

MOTOR CYCLE

SIDE CARmnSoku Sha

Side Vehicle

DoVehicleSelf-Moving Scout

Sba

Cycled Track Freight Wagon

n n O-P Ten Sha

Self-Moving Self-Cycling Vehicle

COMMAND CARShi Sha

Command Vehicle111n•n•.n

RECONNAISSANCECAR

Sha

ARMORED CAR

Armor-Plated Vehicle

Ki

DU

Ka Sba

So

K;

(Continued on fleet pogo

TANKSTRUCKS

VEHICLESSha

Vehicle

/7 A

• 4. /%. n54

Ki DO

1 II I I

•1111111Mu Gen

KyJ

Yg

Sen She

So KO

oliONHei Sha

ARMOREDTROOP CAR

Armor-Plated Troop Vehicle

Dan Yoke

Ammunition Wagon

Sho

AMMUNITIONWAGON

TRACTORKte In Sha

Traction Vehicle

She

ARTILLERYTRACTOR

Ken

(An) Artillery Gun Tractioned Conveyance

Sha

CATERPILLARTRACTOR

Endless Cycle Tract oned Vehicle

Sha

TANKDESTROYER

Hakes:

San

To Destroy Battle Wagon

AMPHIBIANTANKSal

Rau

Sea and Land Double-Use Battle Wagon

BULLETSGRENADES

BOMBS (TABLE 18)SHELLS (TABLE 12)

ROCKETS

'ABLE, No. 2

(Conanwed on Next page)

Dan

Bullet

Cone-shaped Bullet

Dan

Tracer Bullet

LIGHTTRACER BULLETDan

Bullet

Ei

Trace Light

BulletSmall Gun

Ei Kati

Baku Retsu

Sen

POINTED BULLET

RIFLE BULLETSh6 Ju Dan

TRACER BULLET

4VEi En Dan

Trace Smoke Bullet

Ju !

EXPLOSIVEBULLET

Explosive-Burst Rifle Bullet

SMOKETRACER BULLET

BULLETSGRENADES


ROCKETS

4

Dan

Bullet

ARMOR PIERCINGBULLET

DumDum Bullet

Ha Ko Itt Dan

Rifle Bullet

t_lk .44Sb3

INCENDIARYBULLET

Incendiary (Used by) Small Arms (Bullet)

HARD WOODBULLET

Hard Timber (Wood) Bullet

DUM-DUM BULLET411#

Da Mu Da Mu Dan

Pierce Armor

31f Ski

Shrapnel

GRENADETeki Dan

Grenade

I4Kb-Zai Dan

4114st,L,Shjlid DanYo

SHRAPNEL BULLET


4/// // / /4"

veX 7Z' //% /

., A

BULLETSGRENADES


ROCKETS

•

Dan

Bullet

%0

1

Hand (Thrown) Shell

Rifle- Grenade(Use)

DanTeki

Shu

HAND GRENADE

RIFLE GRENADEaZai

PHOSPHORUSGRENADE

Phosphorus Filled (Dose) Grenade

Shakudir•'•

Nestu

THERMITE GRENADE

Intense Heat (Red Hot) Grenade

Spitting Out (as it Advances)

Shin

Known (as) Regular Shell

Dan

STANDARD ROCKET(PROJECTILE)

(of the 20 cm type)

A ROCKET STANDARD PROJECTILE

•• •

TekiRin

Fun

Feki Dan

• '

Ho

Gun (largercalibre than Jo)

GUNCANNONHOWITZERMORTAR

TABLE No. 3

MOUNTAIN GUNNote: Ho and Po interchangeable

Centimeter GunCannon15

Sam P;

Mountain Gun

Note: Field is "Yagai" FIELD GUNY a Ho

Field (Abbrev.) Gun

Her Sha

Low Trajectory Gun

CANNON

Ju

Go

fin aKa Non HO

15 CM CANNON

PoHOWITZER

(Common) Shell Gun

Note: Calvary is "Kiho"Ki 115

CAVALRY GUN

Cavalry (Abbrev.) Gun

Ry1 Darn

(COMUMUld On next page)

SIEGE GUN

Smooth-Bore Gun

Self-Acting Gun

Sea GunBranch

Kai Gan Ho

Sea GunCoast

GunRapid-Fire

113231.C.

Defenders Man-the-Gun

COAST DEFENSEGUN

Kak KO 115

SMOOTH-BOREGUN

AUTOMATIC GUN4p;QUICK-FIRING

GUN


Sbu f%.7.

//

Fcalibre than /el

Gun (larger

Ho

NAVAL GUN


Soku Sba

San

Rifling Mortar

Infantry

HnKyr4

Ky5 H5

DUAL— PURPOSE GUN(HIGH—ANGLE GUN)

INFANTRY CANNON

BATTALION(INFANTRY) GUN

REGIMENTALGUN


MORTAR

Mo far

RIFLED MORTAR

HO

H5

Gun

H5

Gun

Ran

A Multi-Sized

H5

Gun

H5

Low-Trajectory Gun


Geki

Close Quarters (Attack)

raj ,o-v,Ho Hei

Fire Infantry

• ; //// • 7/ / ///

Gun (larger pcalibre than

(large

GUN •CANNONHOWITZERMORTAR

Kei Haku Geki

LIGHTTRENCH MORTAR

Light Close-Quarters (Attack)

ANTIAIRCRAFTGUN

Sha Ho

ANTITANKGUN

Anti Tank

Machine-Firing Large-Size Gun (Cannon)LA ItH igh Angle (Elevation)

Ko ShaANTIAIRCRAFT

MACHINE CANNON

HEAVYTRENCH MORTAR

INFANTRY MORTAR(81 mm)

Mobile GunHigh-Angle (Elevation)

Reed GunHig -Angle (Elevation)

Cho HoShe lei

Long GunRange

TRACTOR DRAWNARTILLERY

HoKen InSha

Fortress GunHeavy

Rocket Gun

#1.

Sha

11:11Ko

M chine-Firing


De;

i=2

Ko Sha

ANTIAIRCRAFTMOBILE GUN

HE

Hg

ANTIAIRCRAFTFIXED GUN

MMKi Kan

bbHo

"POM-POM" GUNMACHINE CANNON

Large-Sized Gun (Cannon)

LONG-RANGEFIELD GUN

Self-Powered Vehicle With Traction (Carrying a) Gun

440 FORTRESSHEAVY ARTILLERY

DonROCKET GUN

Spitting Out-(es it)-Advances Shell Gun

Ko lei

Fun Shin

Ho

'

4//// Gun (larger-caUlare than Ju)

Yo Sat

Booster Powder

Den Ka

PROPELLANT CHARGE

So Yoko

INPRIMING POWDER

(IGNITER)Ten Ka

Ignition

Den 4tK BOOSTER CHARGE

Powder

Yaku

Yaku

Booster Powder

A•GRADE, 40 GRAM,BOOSTER CHARGE

Note: Explosion Burst is: "Sakurai."(Example, shrapnel)

414

—4F-11-n

EXPLOSIVEBURSTING CHARGE

Saku

Yaku

TNT

Cba Kaisu Saku Yaku

Powder(Bursting)qvDa*

Ammunition

(Abbrev.) Explos ye Burst

ear

AMMUNITION(GENERAL)

TNTBURSTING CHARGE


EXPLOSIVES

Yaku

Powder

Smokeless Gun Powder

LARGE-GRAINEDPOWDER

n

Yaku

Ryu Dan

YokeKos Sboku

Sake Yaku

HOLLOW CHARGEAMMUNITION

Used to Perforate Armor Plate Explosive Shell Bursting Powder

buKa Non

AMMUNITION FOR15 CM. CANNON

Cannon5 Centimeter Arnm

Ka

unition

War;

YokeSMOKELESS POWDER

Large Grain

Sb6 Rysi

Small Grain Powder

Powder

Yaku

tt,Brown Color Powder

BROWN (COLORED)POWDER

GUN POWDER

411111bKoku Sboku

BLACK (COLORED)POWDER

GUN POWDER

Black Color Powder

K5

Dal Ryii

iVDow Yaku

FINE-GRAINEDPOWDER


EXPLOSIVES

Yaku

Powder

N 0

M itSbo Ka

NITRO-POWDER

111Cirri

Medium (Size) Powder

Ka

PowderBand-Shaped [ Gun

Ho Kei

Square Flake

Ryii

Powder

V-411-4"Yaku

MEDIUM SIZESQUARE FLAKE

POWDER

STRIP POWDER

NOTE: To indicate the more modern varieties of military high explosives, the Japanesehave selected arbitrary symbols or characters which are used as a sort of code. There are noknown English equivalents for these symbols, and therefore no English words were placedunder the characters as has been done in other tables in this outline.

wil,Sho

44:U

(CH2)3 (N. NO2)3CE

(EQUIVALENT TO RDXmOR HEXYL) •

Yaku...---

Wn —1;46-L

AjilCba

1

Kafue

CaH2CHs (NO2)a TNT(TRINITROTOLUOL)

7' N,1

Yaku

Brown Powder

pc Thiti NITROGUANIDIN . CYCLONITEA „IS THE CHEMICAL ( GUNIGIN, TR)

C. NHNO2. NH.NH2TNT

NITROGUANIDINEA Ga Yaku AMMONIUM NITRATE


/ .

EXPLOSIVES

Me't 4.5.•

AV

Yaku

CaH2 (NO2)4 NCH3 TETRYL

44ShShoX

Ei--fts

kaY Yaku

C(CH2 ONO2)4PETN

(PENTAERYTHRITETETRANITRATE)

i r4A-4Kai

itShoku

rjYaku

NH4 C104 CnH2n-2SEE: CYCLONITE

H2N.0 (NH) NH2HNO3

AMMONIUM PERCHLORATE(MIXTURE)

CYCLONITE

dtieW —Hi-.

C61-12 (0C2H5) (NO2)4 TRINITROPHENETOL

Hei Nei Yaku

4.pil

Sho

zi_.

To

m

Yaku

(TNT — NH4NO3)SEE: TNT AMATOL

EaiiTa..

En

b4

To

—11-11F-°'C7 H6 (NO2)2

— KCIO3DINITROTOLUOL

POTASSIUM CHLORATEYaku

---F-4-°

Col-12 43 OH(N0 PICRIC ACID( TRINITROPHENOL)

. •

Ko YakuShoku

Yellow Color Powder

I 'l -1=ta.

Ho

--t-g-n

SEE: PICRIC ACID AND TNT PICRIC ACIDTNTC-

Cha Yaku

(Continued on next pagla -

EXPLOSIVES

Na Yaku

SEE: BOTH COMPOUNDS PICRIC ACIDDINITRONAPHTALENE

Ko

"11÷a IU

ElrertAC SEE: PICRIC ACID PICRIC ACID

PARAFFIN-

Ko Sbi Yaku

WinCI 0 Hi; (NO2)2 DINITRONAPHTALENE

— NH4NO3 NH4NO3Sbo Na Yaku

IN k F. OaCI 0 H7 NO2 CHEDDITE

En Na.71

Yaku

— KCIO3 (NITRONAPHTALENEPOTASSIUM CHLORIDE)

HgC2 N2 0 2FULMINATE OF MERCURY

(DETONATOR)Kai Ko

IC ; HgC2 N2 02 FULMINATE OF MERCURYIr 4",

Baku Fun

KCIO3Sb2S3

POTASSIUM CHLORATEANTIMONY SULFIDE

t laPb(N3)2 LEAD AZIDE

(DETONATOR)-1-'A c.

Cbik Ka En

JAPANESE NUMERALS

TYPE 99

kii., AKujuku Sbiki

99 MODEL

TYPE 1

_. A,SbikiIchi

ONE MODEL

11th Year TYPE

4r. 4Nen Sbiki

+ _.lu irbi

11+11 Year MODEL

0 0 R a

1 — Ichi

2—--. Ni

3 =. San

4 IN Shi

5 K GS

6 i n Roku

7 "t Hichi

8 A Hachi

9 it. Ku

10 t 14

11 .f., ,_ 1,7 irhi

12 --I- 11-:. 17, ni

13 -1- =-..-, 15 ran

14 -I- n 117 shi

15 --h K ./i go16 "I" /N 1,7 roku

17 t --L la shicki

18 1- A. pi hack,

19 t fl, 1i7 k,7

20 Z - Ni ja

30 t San ji7

40 Vil t Shi ju

50 K --i- Go ill

100 ff Hyaku

1000 Sen

10,000 N Man

100,000 --1- W 117 man

1,000,000 br. Haku man

ERAS

TIME PERIODS DURING NAMES CALENDAR DATES OF ERASREIGN GOOF THREETHREE RECENT EMPERORS

:imMet ii

MEIJI ERA 1868 TO 1912 INCLUSIVE

* TaiE

Siti

TAISHO ERA 1912 TO 1926 INCLUSIVE

II n

SboAll

Wa

SHOWA ERA 1926 TO PRESENT TIME

The e Are Three Ditterent Dates for the Following:

-I- 10th YEAR

JO Nen10th Year

1Mei

thli

p JuV

Nen

10th YearMEIJI ERA

186710

Mei): (Era) 10th Year 1877

*Tai

ESbO

-1-4./I'

1f.Nen

10th YearTAISHO ERA

191110

Tai:bo (Ern) 10th Year 1921

I 21 ii

Sbo Wa +15

.Nen

10th YearSHOWA ERA

Shot. (En) 10111 Year 1935

JIMonth

The first month of the Japanese yearis January and the twelfth month isDecember, the same as in our calen-dar system.

OCTOBERGran fa Get.

GASOLINELUBRICATING OILS

FUEL OILS

REFERENCELINE

NUMBERTHESE ARE USED IN PRINTED TEXT FOR ABBRE-VIATIONS ON CANS OR DRUMS. SEE PAGE 38. ENGLISH TRANSLATION

1Ki Hatsu Yu

GASOLINE (KANJI)

Volatile Oil

2 7Y . ) 1 /:.• GASOLINE (KANA)

Ga So Rin

3112

1G Hatsu

1.1

Yu

ORDINARY GASOLINEFu LIZ

Ordinary Volatile Oil

4Toku Sbu

I* Ki Hatsu

a iiiiYu

SPECIAL GASOLINE

Special Volatile Oil

5.1P m

Bun Rye.VS, .1

IV Hasa

• II11yu

GASOLINE FROM "CRACKING PROCESS"

(FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION)

Distilled Volatile Oil

6Ka

i - aKi Herm

•II1I

Yu

AVIATION GASOLINEla Ki

Aviation Volatile Oil

(Continued on next page


FUEL OILSYu

Oil

REFERENCELINE

NUMBER

THESE ARE USED IN PRINTED TEXT FOR ABBRE-VIATIONS ON CANS OR DRUMS. SEE PAGE 38. ENGLISH TRANSLATION

7

Ly: if:

Gen Rio

4 at IIIIKu Haut Yu

" BASE" GASOLINE (FORADDING TETRA-ETHYL-LEAD)

Raw Material Volatile Oil

8I III

YeKEROSENE

Seki

Stone Oil

9 m.* ra

Kahn

* I III

YeLUBRICATING OIL

Lubricating Oil

10fi

Kei

?itKatsu

I II IYu

LIGHTLUBRICATING OIL

Light Lubricating Oil

11[CAM

I II 11Yu

HEAVYLUBRICATING OILr

Heavy Lubricating Oil

12

..."..,;: r I II IYu

PARAFFIN OIL

Pa Ra Pin Oil

(Continued an next page)

• GASOLINELUBRICATING OILS

FUEL OILSYu

Oil

;

REFERENCELINE

NUMBERTHESE ARE USED IN PRINTED TEXT FOR ABBRE-VIATIONS ON CANS OR DRUMS. SEE PAGE 38. ENGLISH TRANSLATION

13 1J a ali INTERNAL (ENGINE) OILNei Hu Yu

Internal Oil

14ati

EXTERNAL (GEAR) OILGai Ho Yea

External Oil

15

tif,t .:461 1

I II

I FUEL OILNen Ryo Yu

Fuel Oil

16 f- aX r--•

.iiiiCASTOR OIL

Hi Ma Sbi Yu

Castor-Bean Oil

117

fit

OKirti

MINERAL OIL105 Yu

Mineral Oil



FUEL OILS/////

ri" • / //A; /

Yup

Oil

V

ABBREVIATED JAPANESE MARKINGS USED ONGAS AND OIL DRUMS

•1

1

from

1 2 KI 1 or 1 G 2

No. 2 Gasoline

Note: Abbreviation "Kr is derivedKIHATSUYU (Gasoline)

3I FU KI 1 or G

Note: Abbreviation FUTSU (Ordinary)

4 iln 91 GMkt,

Special 91-Octane Gasoline

s

BUN BO or 80 CG

Abbreviation: BUNRYU (Distilled)90-Octane Cracked-Gasoline

6

I KU 90 KI I or 1 A 90 GI

Abbreviation: KOKUKI (Aviation)90-Octane Aviation Gasoline

7

KU 87 GEN K1 I or I G 87 B I

Abbreviation: GENRYO and KOKLIK187-Octane Aviation Base-Gasoline

ABBREVIATED JAPANESE MARKINGS USED ONGAS AND OIL DRUMS

8

I 1 SE KI I or I P-1

Abbreviation: SEKI YU Kerosene)No. 1 Kerosene

10

KEI YU 1 or K

Abbreviation: KEIKATSU YULight Oil

11

1 JU

Abbreviation: JUKATSUNo. 1 Heavy Oil

113 •irhi Nai

Abbreviation: NAI BUNo. 1 Internal Oil

14......e.

irbi lit;

Abbreviation: GAIBUNo. 1 External Oil

•Numbers correspond to those in preceding table.(Key Character "Yu")

PRIMERSHELL CASE

BANGALORE TORPEDOGRENADE DISCHARGER

COMPLETE ROUND

TABLE No 8

Tube(Shaped Container)

TO

Explosive Tube

SHELL CASETo

Demolition Tube

Grenade Tube

Baku T5

PRIMER

Powder Tube Case

CARTRIDGE CASEPRIMER

Ky5Yaku

Cartridge Case Explosive TubeONE:MINNOW

rs

BANGALORETORPEDO

1n••••••

BANGALORETORPEDO

Explosive-Powder Tube

Of ITTeki Dan To

srisiA

Yaku

Baku

GRENADEDISCHARGER

(Continued ors 'text page

Tube(Shaped Container)

PRIMERSHELL CASE

BANGALORE TORPEDO;GRENADE DISCHARGER /

To COMPLETE ROUND

ToDan Yaks

COMPLETEROUND

Artillery Shell (Complete) Tube

4$1 -"alt.gt COMPLETE ROUNDHE SHELL

Ryil Dan Dan Yaks To

High Explosive Artillery Shell (Complete) Tube

ln"

Ki

INFANTRYHo

Walking Troops

ORDANCEZo Hei

Manufacture (Arms) for Troops

ENGINEERSKo

Construction Troops

00111"%t

Hei

Horse Troops

WO OilHet

Gun Troops

fi W2 0Ket Ho Het

Light Gun Troops

CAVALRY

ARTILLERY

LIGHT ARTILLERY


SERVICEDIVISION

Troops

Sen

Field Warfare

Gan

Coast

.."06Hei

Gun Troops

Ha Hei

Gun Troops

Ha Hei

Gun Troops

HEAVY ARTILLERY

FIELD ARTILLERY

COAST ARTILLERY

Kai

Sea

Sha Ken (n

t,* MECHANICALLY-DRAWNARTILLERY

Ha Hei I Da

Self-Moving TractionedVehicle Gun Troops

ft „Ili. Nob

Ho Heiu Da

SELF-PROPELLEDARTILLERY

elf-Moving Gun Troops

Horse (drawn

HO

Gun

Ki

.nift

HORSE-DRAWNatIONI

ARTILLERYHei

Troops(Continued on next page)

DIVISIONALARTILLERYShi

Gun

AirUnit Troops

Riku

Land

Sbd Hei

Hei

Chemistry Warfare Troops

Small Fire Troop (Branch)

Ka

SERVICEDIVISION

0

/%/ / //

Hei

KJ Sha Ho Hei

ANTIAIRCRAFTARTILLERY

High Angle Gun Troops

Division Gun Troops

ARMY AIRSERVICE

CHEMICAL WARFARESERVICE

SMALL ARMS


SERVICEDIVISION

Troops

GunRiku

Kai Gun

Ku Gun

Air Unit

ARMY

Land Unit

NAVY

Sea Unit

AIR FORCES

ARMY AND NAVYUNITS

Gun Unit

Tank

Land Mine

Su; Rai

SbaSe„

Tes Seu

Rai

LANDMINE

WATERMINE

Wafer Mine

Contact Land Mine

Ittj

li Rai

Land Mine

fit Wit

Re, re,

TRIP-WIREMINE

Iron Wire Tripping Purpose Mine

Haisu

Self-Acting

1thRai

Land Mine


CONTACTLAND-MINE

ANTITANKMINE

Rai

CLOCK-WORKMINE

Sbnku FlaeJo

Rai

MINES/./

/ ok, t t tt

/ (Detonating Explosion)Mine

•////

YuFu

Floating

. na

4-1

Baku

MINEDEMOLITION

-

Rai

Explosive Mineee.

AK

Sui

al NB

Rai

FLOATINGMINE

Water Mine

4-a-/ATORPEDO

(Aerial)2 '2RaiKu

Air Mine

MACHINE GUNAUTOMATIC RIFLE

PISTOLRIFLE

MACHINEGUN

VMKi Kan

Ki Kan

Machine Gun

Kei

LIGHTMACHINE GUN

Light Machine Gun

HEAVYMACHINE GUN

ju Ki

Kan jir

Heavy Machine Gun

Ko Tei jir

FIXEDMACHINE GUN

Fixed

14Ki

GunMachine

NtitiKi Kan ju

FLEXIBLEMACHINE GUN 7:

ju Nan

Gun

/17

h--EdKin Sba

Machine

IR OMKi Kan

ANTIAIRCRAFTMACHINE GUN

High-Angle


Machine Gun

MACHINE GUNAUTOMATIC RIFLE

PISTOLRIFLE

Gun (SmallerDimension. than "Ho")

GunSmall

Do

Self-Acting

AUTOMATICRIFLE

Gun

SboRIFLE

#7;Ken

PISTOL

Hand-Operated Gun

aKt

CARBINE

Horse (Cavalry) Gun

ARTILLERYSHELL

Special Gun-Shell

High Explosive ShellCommon

EXPERIMENTALSHELL

Dan

Experimental Shell

Gun-Shell

Rya Dan

High Explosive Shell

(Type used for Artillery) H.E. Shell

Dan

SPECIALSHELL

4111120

fin Jii

COMMONSHELL

LARGE CALIBERSHELL

Large Caliber

HIGH-EXPLOSIVESHELL

Ryir Dan

pp

Ryn Dan

Sbr Sei

64Doi KO Kei

13

Dan

Toku Sbu

(Continued on nest Page)

Tracer (with) Light HE Shell

as Shell

Sen Dan

29

K; Ryu

ellSh

DanSb; 1

ShellIncendiary

HE SHELL WITHLIGHT-TRACER

it4 n..n—nAk

Ku

III IRya Dan

1:

HE Shell

TYPE 92 HE SHELL(for Infantry)

LONG-POINTED(Streamlined) SHELL

Type

Shiba Ho

Infantry

iTan GAS SHELL

HOLLOW CHARGESHELL

Pierce ThroLg, Armor Plate

INCENDIARYSHELL

(Confirmed on next page)

III IIn n

ARTILLERYSHELL

Ryi Dan

;/4:1,4 4 •/P"

/, Ryu

Dan

Sen

Come to a Sharp Point Shell

Ei

rzzz z/z tilt/oxi1

Rya

ja; /////4

ARTILLERYSHELL

anion ofremove)

Tek isabbrevia i

Tekkyo (

STAR SHELL(Illuminating)

PointedHigh-Angle (Fire) Shell

ll

Sbo Mei

Brilliant Glare

Dan

Shell

Hatsu En DanSMOKE SHELL

Emit Smoke Shell

11Ki; Sba Sen Ei

ANTIAIRCRAFTPOINTED SHELL

Dan

ARMOR-PIERCINGHE SHELL

Pierce Armor-plate HE Shell

Armor-piercing

4$2DanKo

AP STEEL SHELL(AP Shot)

Remove, Destroy Armor-plate Shell

AP SHELL WITHHARDENED CAP

Cap Shell

Tek

Hi

ARTILLERYSHELL

Dan

frif l+"Rya DanSEMI-STEEL

SHELL

Semi Steel Shell

Shell

Gun-Turret Cannon Pro eclat,Use

H gh-explosive Case Shell

ran 314K Rys7 Dan

DRAWN-STEELSHELL

SteelForge

CHILLED STEEL(AP) SHELL

Chilled Steel Shell

MI"Ho

TURRETPROJECTILE

FORCANNON USE

4g#

DanSHRAPNEL

(Finned Shell)MORTAR SHELL

(Continued on next page

Yo Mi.

Non Dan Gan

• •• •

Ken Tetra Dan

This is an exception to the general rule

that key characters are terminal characters.

Ya Yoku Dan

Possessing Wings Shell

ARTILLERYSHELL

Dan

GrenadeStick-Hand Hand

BALLAMMUNITIONs

pa

Jilsu Dan

Solid Ammunition

...•Netsu

Heat (Red hot)

POTATO-MASHER TYPEHAND-GRENADE

Shake

Intense

Rifle

l`fRyit Dan

Grenade

Teki Dan

Grenade

RIFLEGRENADE

THERMITEGRENADE

Sbu Ryu Dan

PROJECTILEDan Gan

Shell Body (Form)

This is an exception to the general rule that key characters

are terminal characters.

MARK-2G5

n•nn411.

Ni

Mark 2

Bake Dan

Airplane Bomb

BOMB

TABLE No. 13PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION

JAPANESE AIRPLANE BOMBS AND THEIR MARKINGS

= . •it: :. .P ' LAND BOMB

(Thin-cased HE-GP Bomb)

Riku la Baku Dan Demolition Blast

Land Use Bomb

2

• 2 n OPIP.

I fDu Jo

C : :r4.

Baku

. a

Dan

ORDINARY BOMB(Heavy-cased HE-GP Bomb)

Demolition SAP

General Purpose Bomb

3

Pr.

.Take Sbu

c: 10014.

Baku Dan

SPECIAL PURPOSEBOMB

14 Types (Mark No. Series)

Special Kind Bomb

Group 3, or Special Purpose Bombs, is by far the most important, being composed of adiversified list ranging from chemical bombs to rocket and incendiary bombs. Although thereare 26 types of Special Purpose Bombs listed with mark numbers in Japanese ordriance cata-logs, there are but 14 known types in actual use and some of these are advanced only to theexperimental stage.

While the Japanese characters "Baku Dan" (airplane bomb) appear on all aerial bombs,or their shipping cases, the characters for "mark" number appear only on Special PurposeBombs, and just preceding "Baku Dan." Look first for the character "mark" and its number.If "mark" is present, then the number following it describes the type (through reference toTable No. 13).

When the ideograph for :'mark" i absent, look for "Baku Dan." The characters preced-i ing it, will describe whether it is a Land Bomb or an Ordinary (General Purpose) Bomb.

These are set forth in Table No. 18.

Meaning is:MARK (Number)

Gi

On "Special Series" bombs a number follows this character to indicate the type as follows:

Mark No. Type of Bomb Mark No. Type of Bomb

1 Gas, chemical 14 Unclassified2 Antisubmarine 15

3 Incendiary 164 Rocket 175 Armor-Piercing 186 Magnesium Incendiary and 19

Oil Incendiary7 Unknown 20

21 Cluster, Airdrome8 Unclassified

9 22 Stick Cluster

10 23 Long-delay

11 24 Parachute12 25 Parachute Cluster13 26 Above Ground

It

(Cow awed ma Seri page)

Meaning is:DESIGN NUMBER

(so-and-so)

Kam

Meaning is:MODEL

(so-and-so)

Sbiki

Meaning is:MODIFICATION

(so-and-so)

Kai

NUMBER 6

Rohm Ban

The Japanese have several common weights for airplane bombs. Examples: 30 Kg.; 60

Kg.; 250 Kg.; 700 Kg.; 800 Kg.

The preceding character indicates the weight of the bomb. In the example illustrated,Roku Ban means number 6. Multiply the 6 by 10, and the result is the weight of the bomb in

kilograms. (60 kg.)

Note: The Japanese characters on this page are related to markingsfound oat/ on JAPANESE AIRPLANE BOMBS.

METRICTABLES

San>1

(COolinued on nese page)

CENTIMETER

Sanchi

MILLIMETER

GRAM(15.432 grains)

1 SECOND

KILOGRAM(2.2 lbs.)

1. K. 205 = 1.205 Kg.

1 LITER(1.7607 pints)

1 DECALITER(10 liters)

(2.2008 gallons)

1 POUND(120.96 momme)

Pondo

O

Mir;

—4

.,.,0oe4,g/t

GYM

METRICTABLES

AL

Momme

1 MOMME(120.96 momme

= 1 lb.)

A

Go Ron

1 GALLON(2.5188 Sho)

A 2.5188

Sbo

= 1 Gallon

`9°Sa

LENGTH

_kat,

.M.WEIGHT

4Inche

INCH

briow FOOT

WIYado

YARD

NagaNaga

"AIRCRAFT"WEAPONS ANDAMMUNITION

KiKu

Ku

Flying (in) Air Machine 1

f.

14,ARMYPLANE

KiRiku

Gun

Riki Ki

Sui Ki

AIRCRAFT

Land Branch (Flying) Machine

NAVYPLANE

:

Kai Gun Ki

Sea Branch (Flying) Machine

LANDPLANE

Land Best (Use) (Flying) Machine

SEAPLANE

Sea Best (Use) (Flying) Machine

TORPEDOAIRPLANE

Rai Geki Ki

Water Mine 2 Attack 3 (Flying) Machine

(Continued on nezi page

eighty Kana characters represent the basic syllables of the language. Since its characters rep-resent sounds and not letters, Kana may be more accurately considered a syllabary than analphabet. Because of its phonetic nature Kana can be used for foreign words after they havebeen reduced to Japanese syllables as closely as possible imitative of the sounds in the originalwords.

Kana is designed around the five vowels, A, I, U, E, 0, and the fifteen consonants, K, G,M, N, Fl, P, B, T, D, F, R, S, W, Y, Z. The working plan of this table is simple. For exam-ple, the consonant K produces five separate syllable sounds when added sidgly to each one ofthe five vowels. These are KA, KI, KU, KE, and KO. There is a separate alphabet mark, orKana character, for not only each of the five vowels, but also for each of the seventy-five two-letter sounds, making a total of eighty individual Japanese Kana characters in the basic table.

The pronunciation of the vowel sounds is slightly different from the English pronuncia-tion: thus A, I, U, E, 0, are pronounced ah, ee, oo, ay, oh, in Japanese. These pronunciationsounds remain the same when they are converted into the two-letter syllables of the KanaTable.

The table of Kana characters appears on Page 3. These Kana characters are used not onlyfor Japanese ordnance items but also for Japanese medical and chemical warfare terms. Exam-ples of the use of Kana are set forth below. Note again that the Kana characters representsyllables.

When the Japanese want to convert a new English word such as "aneroid- into theirprinted language they use the Kana system of basic sounds. This can only be done after theEnglish word is separated into a grouping of sounds closest to those in the Kana alphabet. Tothe Japanese, "aneroid" sounds like the following: ah/nay/ro/ee/do. All these sounds appearin the Kana Table, and can be written by using the Kana characters. The following are exam-ples of the method of changing three words, Aneroid, Magnesium, and Browning, into thewritten Kana language:

_1. 4 I.:.

ANEROIDA Ne Rr I Do

ab nay '3 II chi

'7 INn

z..' _2 -.4 MAGNESIUM

Ma Gu Ne Ship Mu

.,.

/..7 ......_.... :00/ .

, BROWNING

Ea Ra II Ni En . Get

*A special character, en or an, genera ly ending a word.

Sbiki Tan En Ki Shin Kan

Fuze88 Type Short-Delay

Harbi Harhi

Since the Kana characters are easier to write than Kanji numerals, Japanese often useKana to list ordnance items; hence it is common to find a vertical list of items headed by aKana symbol instead of a number (when used as first, second, third, etc.). On artillery am-munition items, as boosters and fuzes, Kana characters such as "To" are stamped into themetal, or painted thereon. These are important identification marks, discussed later in thispublication.

Unusual Methods of Japanese Marking

There are four main types of material on which Japanese character markings describingordnance items are placed. These are: (1) wooden shipping-cases, (2) metal parts of ord-nance items, (3) cardboard tags, tied to the item by string or pasted on metal inner-cases, (4)descriptive booklets, which either accompany the item within the wooden shipping case or areobtained among captured records found with the equipment.

(1) On wooden shipping cases,the Japanese generally describe theitem by characters painted acrossone or more sides of the woodenbox, as illustrated:

The first step in translating such an inscription is to determine the order in which theJapanese characters are written. They may start either from left to right or from right to left.The direction in which they are to be read can be found by noting the location of the charac-ter for Type ("Shiki") which invariably appears in inscriptions for all ordnance items. In theillustration, it is the third ideograph from the right. By memorizing the Japanese numeralsfrom one to ten, shown in Table No. 5 of Section Two, it is easy to recognize their ideographs,which in Japanese always precede the character for "Type." In the illustration Japanesenumerals for "88" are the first two on the extreme right followed by the ideograph for "Shiki"(Type). Thus the direction of placing the characters on this shipping box is from right to left.

When right to left order has been followed in marking, it is suggested (for simplicity intranslation) that the characters be copied on paper as usual, but placed in the opposite direc-tion from that found, as follows:

(2) Japanese mark metal parts of ordnance items with both Kanji and Kana characters.The polished brass surface of an artillery shell cartridge-case lends itself readily to the paint-

#Key Characters

"AIRCRAFT"WEAPONS AND /AMMUNITION

KiMa.chi n /////

Baku Geki

Hi Ki

ARMOREDAIRCRAFT

Armor Plated Flight (Flying) Machine

BOMBINGAIRPLANE

Baku Geki Ki

Bomb 4 Attack (Flying) Machine

BOMBSIGHT

Bomb 4 Attack 3 Sighting Device (For a) (Flying) Machine

Ki

Ki KaiMACHINE

Machine

FOOTNOTES TO TABLE 15Abbreviations reference

1 2triffh

• •• • TORPEDOAerial

Ki5 Rai

Air Mine

3

ATTACK

4

AIRPLANEBOMB

Ko

Geki

Baku

Dan

Di;

Copper

Tetra

Iron

Ko Teem

Steel

O Do

Yellow Copper

IRON

STEEL

BRASS

COPPER

nSei

BRONZE

Bluish Copper

LEADNamari

Lead

(Confirmed on next page)

METALSTABLE

\\‘‘XX

Ku

Ro Ma

to

G; Kin

1 F. ALLOY •

Compound Metal

Chu Tomos

t

— ---

:. CAST IRON

Cast Iron

Ki; Taste

-II CHROMIUMSTEEL

....,hromium Steel

Sei Sen

SEMI-STEEL

with Steel-type pig-iron

Tan Ka

FDRAWN STEEL

Forged Steel

4;•

Ken Tessa

CHILLEDSTEEL

Chilled Steel

(Continued on next–MUT

14KO

Steel

Kr, is an abbreviation of KoTetsu (steel)

METALSTABLE

Iron

Compou

la•

Chu K;CAST STEEL

Cast Steel

)41b P.

ar4R

laALLOY STEEL

Kin

nd Metal Steel

e

A&ji

KO"

t#

Bau

STEEL PLATE

Steel Plate

0.Ala

En

ZINC

Lead

* Ko is an abbreviation of KoTem., (steel)

Projectile Head Communicating Tube (Fuze)

Dan Tei Shin Kan

Projectile FuzeBase

Slow-moving FuzeFire

Arrival - Departure Fuze

Double-Motion Fuze

Short-time Late-Period Fuze

KsEh

Dan To

NOSE FUZE

BASE FUZE

Kara

Ate--a *

Sbin Kan

TIME FUZE

Chain Hatsu

,s_AA

1-a In

Shin Ken

PERCUSSIONFUZE

JNShin Kan

COMBINATIONFUZE

(Time and Percussion)

Ate,

Shin Kan

Depart (Fire) Instantaneous Fuze

Sbu Maim

Instant

Aire

KanTan

(Confirmed on next page),

Ei

INSTANTANEOUSFUZE

SHORT-DELAYFUZE

translation of - bulletpicker.combulletpicker.com/pdf/japanese ordnance markings.pdf · translation...

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